Give Me Ten Seconds

John Sergeant's acclaimed memoir takes us from his somewhat eccentric childhood to his thirty years' service with the BBC. Memorably handbagged by Margaret Thatcher on the steps of the Paris Embassy as she lost the leadership contest, and the man to whom Ron Davis confessed his midnight perambulations on Clapham Common, Sergeant has been the man on the spot in most of the major news stories of the last twenty years. His mordant wit, keen sense of the absurd and acute powers of analysis pervade the book and his understanding of the labyrinthine workings of Westmister - and of the corridors of Broadcasting House - is second to none.